Connecting users and libraries
Mei Ling Lo
(Math/Computer Science Librarian) [email protected]
and
Choong Hoong Liew
(Web Designer)
What is a toolbar?
noun: A row of icons on a computer display providing quick access to certain functions.
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Why is there a need for a libraries toolbar?
• More library resources are available online.• Fewer people visit the Rutgers libraries. Lack of foot traffic.
• Need to find new ways to reach our communities and draw them back into the libraries both
virtually and physically.
• Free commercial websites such as Google Scholar and Amazon.com are available to the users.
Implement “web localization” by placing Rutgers logo on the commercial web pages.
Goals for having Rutgers Libraries Toolbar
• Establish a visible branding tool – remind patrons of the presence of Rutgers Libraries
• Connect users and libraries – put Rutgers Libraries on users’ desktops
• Provide a quick and easy channel for users to access our resources from anywhere.
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Options for creating a Library toolbar?
• Conduit.com (Effective Brand)
• Toolbarstudio.com (BestToolbars.net )
• LibX.org (Virginia Tech) used for Rutgers Toolbar
– Annette Bailey (Digital Assets Librarian) and Godmar Back (Computer Science Professor) are the creators of LibX, which is a free, open
source extension for the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers.
– The funding is from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
LibX and Rutgers toolbar
• Why do we pick LibX?
LibX is much more than a toolbar. It supports the ability
to attach JavaScript to pages a user visits.
1. It provides buttons, drop-down menu and search fields which give direct access to our catalog and
other library resources.
2. It places cues in web pages such as Amazon.com. 3. It allows you to highlight and right-click words to
automatically search our library catalog.
4. It uses “Magic Scholar button” to retrieve full-text journal articles.
Features of the Rutgers Libraries Toolbar
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Retrieving an article without toolbar
Find a citation Search in IRIS, our libraries catalog Go to the publisher’s website
Find the article by the volume number and the
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• Eager to try the toolbar and install it.
• Volunteer to include the toolbar into their library instructions.
• The toolbar reinforces information literacy skills by embedding our libraries on user’s desktop. Instead of only using wikipedia, the students access our
library resources through the toolbar.
• Retrieving a full-text article is no longer multi-screens away from the citation page. Some librarians use the “Magic Scholar” button to answer reference questions at the desk and on Meebo (chat reference).
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Users’ perspective – Library patrons
• A small group of teaching faculty has tried the toolbar.
• Enjoy being one-click away from our library resources. • Searching our library catalog, IRIS, is much faster
from the context menu.
• Impressed by the “drag-and-drop” feature from Magic Scholar button. (The toolbar saves time!)
An email from a user – 4/14/2008
thank you so much for your presentation of the Library services yesterday for the Teaching of History course.
I'm starting using the Library toolbar and it's really cool and not invasive at all. It has an additional feature: when you google something, clicking on the R it is search
automatically in the Rutgers IRIS. Many thanks!
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Marketing plan for the toolbar
• The toolbar will be included in the library instructions, especially for the freshmen.
• The toolbar will be installed on the machines at the computer labs in Sept 2008.
• Advertising of the toolbar will appear in Rutgers students newspaper, the student portal web site
-my.rutgers.edu and other social networking web sites such as myspace.com.
• Teaching faculty will be asked to post the information of the toolbar on their Sakai web sites and the
Words for Thought – Role of librarians
• We should continue to engage our users through technologies.
• Commercial web sites are not our competitors. We can place our identity on their web sites by launching the effort to establish “Web Localization”.
• We will then be able to better serve the needs of our users!
